Class Collator

public static final int CANONICAL_DECOMPOSITION

This constant indicates that only characters which are canonical variants in Unicode 2.0 will be decomposed prior to performing comparisons. This will cause accented languages to be sorted correctly. This is the default decomposition value.

Field Value:

1

public static final int FULL_DECOMPOSITION

This constant indicates that both canonical variants and compatibility variants in Unicode 2.0 will be decomposed prior to performing comparisons. This is the slowest mode, but is required to get the correct sorting for certain languages with certain special formats.

Field Value:

2

public static final int IDENTICAL

This constant is a strength value which indicates that any difference at all between character values are considered significant.

Field Value:

3

public static final int NO_DECOMPOSITION

This constant indicates that accented characters won't be decomposed when performing comparisons. This will yield the fastest results, but will only work correctly in call cases for languages which do not use accents such as English.

Field Value:

0

public static final int PRIMARY

This constant is a strength value which indicates that only primary differences between characters will be considered signficant. As an example, two completely different English letters such as 'a' and 'b' are considered to have a primary difference.

Field Value:

0

public static final int SECONDARY

This constant is a strength value which indicates that only secondary or primary differences between characters will be considered significant. An example of a secondary difference between characters are instances of the same letter with different accented forms.

Field Value:

1

public static final int TERTIARY

This constant is a strength value which indicates that tertiary, secondary, and primary differences will be considered during sorting. An example of a tertiary difference is capitalization of a given letter. This is the default value for the strength setting.

Field Value:

2

protected Collator()

This method initializes a new instance of Collator to have the default strength (TERTIARY) and decomposition (CANONICAL_DECOMPOSITION) settings. This constructor is protected and is for use by subclasses only. Non-subclass callers should use the static getInstance() methods of this class to instantiate Collation objects for the desired locale.

public Object clone()

This method returns a copy of this Collator object.

Overrides:

clone in interface Object

Returns:

A duplicate of this object.

public int compare(Object o1,
                   Object o2)

This method compares the two Object's and returns an integer indicating whether or not the first argument is less than, equal to, or greater than the second argument. These two objects must be String's or an exception will be thrown.

Parameters:

o1 - The first object to compare

o2 - The second object to compare

Returns:

A negative integer if obj1 < obj2, 0 if obj1 == obj2, or a positive integer if obj1 > obj2.

Throws:

ClassCastException - If the arguments are not instances of String.

public abstract int compare(String source,
                            String target)

This method compares the two String's and returns an integer indicating whether or not the first argument is less than, equal to, or greater than the second argument. The comparison is performed according to the rules of the locale for this Collator and the strength and decomposition rules in effect.

Parameters:

source - The first object to compare

target - The second object to compare

Returns:

A negative integer if str1 < str2, 0 if str1 == str2, or a positive integer if str1 > str2.

public boolean equals(Object obj)

This method tests the specified object for equality against this object. This will be true if and only if the following conditions are met:

• The specified object is not null.
• The specified object is an instance of Collator.
• The specified object has the same strength and decomposition settings as this object.

Specified by:

equals in interface Comparator<T>

Overrides:

equals in interface Object

Parameters:

obj - The Object to test for equality against this object.

Returns:

true if the specified object is equal to this one, false otherwise.

public boolean equals(String source,
                      String target)

This method tests whether the specified String's are equal according to the collation rules for the locale of this object and the current strength and decomposition settings.

Parameters:

source - The first String to compare

target - The second String to compare

Returns:

true if the two strings are equal, false otherwise.

public static Locale[] getAvailableLocales()

This method returns an array of Locale objects which is the list of locales for which Collator objects exist.

Returns:

The list of locales for which Collator's exist.

public abstract CollationKey getCollationKey(String source)

This method transforms the specified String into a CollationKey for faster comparisons. This is useful when comparisons against a string might be performed multiple times, such as during a sort operation.

Parameters:

source - The String to convert.

Returns:

A CollationKey for the specified String.

public int getDecomposition()

This method returns the current decomposition setting for this object. This * will be one of NO_DECOMPOSITION, CANONICAL_DECOMPOSITION, or * FULL_DECOMPOSITION. See the documentation for those constants for an * explanation of this setting.

Returns:

The current decomposition setting.

public static Collator getInstance()

This method returns an instance of Collator for the default locale.

Returns:

A Collator for the default locale.

public static Collator getInstance(Locale loc)

This method returns an instance of Collator for the specified locale. If no Collator exists for the desired locale, the fallback procedure described in LocaleServiceProvider is invoked.

Parameters:

loc - The desired locale to load a Collator for.

Returns:

A Collator for the requested locale

public int getStrength()

This method returns the current strength setting for this object. This will be one of PRIMARY, SECONDARY, TERTIARY, or IDENTICAL. See the documentation for those constants for an explanation of this setting.

Returns:

The current strength setting.

public abstract int hashCode()

This method returns a hash code value for this object.

Overrides:

hashCode in interface Object

Returns:

A hash value for this object.

public void setDecomposition(int mode)

This method sets the decomposition setting for this object to the specified value. This must be one of NO_DECOMPOSITION, CANONICAL_DECOMPOSITION, or FULL_DECOMPOSITION. Otherwise an exception will be thrown. See the documentation for those contants for an explanation of this setting.

Parameters:

mode - The new decomposition setting.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - If the requested decomposition setting is not valid.

public void setStrength(int strength)

This method sets the strength setting for this object to the specified value. This must be one of PRIMARY, SECONDARY, TERTIARY, or IDENTICAL. Otherwise an exception is thrown. See the documentation for these constants for an explanation of this setting.

Parameters:

strength - The new strength setting.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - If the requested strength setting value is not valid.